Having Never Met

by Inga Pizāne

Inga Pizane captures a vibrant inner and outer life that moves seamlessly between the domestic landscape of the home and the streets of the city. In poems that are spare and precise, Pizane evokes rich emotions, exploring the human desire to connect in meaningful and physical ways as well as how intimacy is thwarted in a modern, technologically-driven world. Pizane's closely-observed portraits of the human condition, drawn from her first two collections and now available to English speakers thanks to Jayde Will's translations, are guaranteed to resonate with readers everywhere. HAVING NEVER MET delivers delight with each turn of the page as the seasons unfold, ripe with meaning.

Inga Pizane (1986, Kraslava) is a Latvian poet whose first collection Tu neesi sniegs (You are No Snow) was published in 2016 by Janis Roze. She has performed at the Poetry Days events, the "The Blood of a Poet" festival and other international workshops and festivals, and her work has appeared in theatre and radio. She is currently preparing both her second book of poems and her first book of short stories.

Jayde Will is a literary translator from Latvian, Lithuanian, and Estonian. Recent or forthcoming translations include Latvian author Daina Tabuna's short story collection The Secret Box (The Emma Press) and Latvian poet Artis Ostups's collection GESTURES (Ugly Duckling Presse). He lives in Riga.

Genres: Poetry

58 pages, Paperback

Published April 13, 2018

Reviews

[Anete · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pieskārās manām dziļākajām emocijām arī tulkojums. Prieks, ka plašaka auditorija var sadzirdēt šo.

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[Austra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always prefer poetry in Latvian. I can even read and get it quite well in Russian, which must be thanks to the elementary school education. Bet poetry in English does not really work for me. And believe me - I have tried. So I read and re-read Inga's new poetry book to feel poems better, and I must admit that it helps. But, of course, book's opening was still fresh in my memory - when Inga was reading poems in original, but Jayde - in translation. Best quality of Inga's poetry for me is simply that it talks to me, when I read or listen to it - I see pictures in my mind, I believe in what is said, recognize it and I am touched. And I'm thankful for that.

"On tropical summer nights
girls return home
to their men or their loneliness
which sometimes means the same thing. [...]"

[Signe · Rating 4 out of 5]

""It's all going to be ok," you said. "No one died."

But right then in my thoughts I was at the funeral of my former self

and threw three handfuls of sand
in the grave."

Īpaši uzrunāja otrās daļas dzejoļi, kas ienāca sirdī ar lielāku kaudzīti līdz galam neizteiktu skumju.

Paldies Ingai.
Paldies Džeidam.

ļoti, ļoti

[Krišs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Viena no dzejnieka prasmēm ir aprakstīt ikdienišķo, padarot to redzamu arī lasītājiem.

[Agris Fakingsons · Rating 4 out of 5]

..lasīt latviski, protams, ir labāk. šajā krājumā ir jau labi zināmie dzejoļi un pilnīgi svaigi. var gadīties, ka valodas barjeras dēļ pat neatpazinu, kas ir kas, bet tik un tā ļoti patīkami :) paldies, Ingai ;)

[Bogi Takács]

(Review coming soon IY"H. I am not sure what the launch date is, I just really need to update my Goodreads bc I lose track of what I want to review!)

Source of the book: Print review copy from publisher

[Dana La · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ingas poetic view on life and ability to observe and put things she observed in words is mesmerizing. Longing, happiness in small things, love, seasonal changes. She is gentle with words and gives us time to contemplate on our lifes.

[Alan (on road trip hiatus) Teder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Observations of Life and Love
Review of the English translation by Jayde Will of "Tu neesi sniegs" (You are not Snow) & newer poems.

We bow our heads
in front of our phones
that is
in front of the pretense of others
in other words
we hope,
that it isn't pretense
(or are we pretending, that we believe that?)

We bow our heads
so we don't look into the eyes
of strangers,

which we have become
to ourselves

Somewhat off-topic, but the above poem reminded me of a time when a friend and I observed modern day personal communication going on at a nearby restaurant table where the two people had their eyes glued to their mobile phones except for when they showed their phone-screens to each other i.e. it was as if the phones were doing the talking to each other and not the people.

Inga Pizāne makes quietly beautiful (and often humorous) observations about life and love in this collection of poems that flow very well in their English translations by Jayde Will aka Džeids Vils in his Latvian persona.

This English language edition has a jump on the original Latvian as it includes poems from Pizāne's 2nd book of poetry which has not yet been published in its original language (as of February 2019). "Having Never Met" is split about half and half between the earlier Tu neesi sniegs and the future (currently unnamed) Latvian collections.

"Having Never Met" is part of A Midsummer Night's Press' Periscope imprint which publishes poetry in English translation. Its list contains several collections of otherwise unavailable Baltic poets & poetry in translation, see more at https://amidsummernightspress.com/WP/...

[Agnese · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inga has beautiful, soft and intelligent inner voice. And it sounds beautiful in English too.

[Peace · Rating 5 out of 5]

lovely use of structure and whimsy, i could feel the cold stare of the stars.

[Marina Sofia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very excited to read a volume of poetry in translation from Latvia! Full review here: https://findingtimetowrite.wordpress....